Firmware and topology files not found on Thinkpad X1 Tablet Gen3

[twi42]

Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Tablet Gen3 has ALC3278 + Intel SST, and using the standard snd-hda-intel causes the internal stereo speakers to either produce very low and thin audio, or no audio at all, depending on which state e.g. Windows 11 left the power amplifier. When trying out sof, dsp is detected but firmware files are not found:

Edit: this is Fedora Rawhide with alsa-sof-firmware-2025.05.1-1.fc44

[   10.202071] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: DSP detected with PCI class/subclass/prog-if 0x040380
[   10.202174] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops intel_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
[   10.209351] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: use msi interrupt mode
[   10.317911] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: hda codecs found, mask 5
[   10.317920] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: using HDA machine driver skl_hda_dsp_generic now
[   10.317924] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: BT link detected in NHLT tables: 0x0
[   10.317928] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: DMICs detected in NHLT tables: 0
[   10.320758] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: SOF firmware and/or topology file not found.
[   10.320761] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: Supported default profiles
[   10.320763] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: - ipc type 1 (Requested):
[   10.320764] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3:  Firmware file: intel/avs/kbl/dsp_basefw.bin
[   10.320766] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3:  Topology file: intel/avs-tplg/sof-hda-generic.tplg
[   10.320767] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: Check if you have 'sof-firmware' package installed.
[   10.320768] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: Optionally it can be manually downloaded from:
[   10.320770] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3:    https://github.com/thesofproject/sof-bin/
[   10.321174] sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: error: sof_probe_work failed err: -2

[twi42]

Manually copying the dsp_basefw.bin to the dmesg-suggested location causes it to load, but I could not get any topology to get so far to even create the audio interface:

Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: DSP detected with PCI class/subclass/prog-if 0x040380
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: bound 0000:00:02.0 (ops intel_audio_component_bind_ops [i915])
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: use msi interrupt mode
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: hda codecs found, mask 5
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: using HDA machine driver skl_hda_dsp_generic now
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: BT link detected in NHLT tables: 0x0
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: DMICs detected in NHLT tables: 0
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: Firmware paths/files for ipc type 1:
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3:  Firmware file:     intel/avs/kbl/dsp_basefw.bin
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3:  Topology file:     intel/avs-tplg/sof-hda-generic.tplg
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: Loaded firmware library: ADSPFW, version: 9.21.0.4899
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: sof_ipc4_complete_split_release: Firmware name 'dsp_basefw.bin' is missing .ri extension
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: Booted firmware version: 9.21.0.4899
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: Topology: ABI 3:29:1 Kernel ABI 3:23:1
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: Library loading is not supported due to not set library path
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: failed to find module info for widget eqiir.4.1 with UUID 5150C0E6-27F9-4EC8-8351-C705B642D12F
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: failed updating IPC struct for eqiir.4.1
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: error: failed to load DSP topology -22
Nov 11 00:16:27 sdr1-p kernel: sof-audio-pci-intel-skl 0000:00:1f.3: ASoC error (-22): at snd_soc_component_probe() on 0000:00:1f.3

[ujfalusi]

SOF is not supported on KBL but we can boot the AVS firmware using IPC4 protocol. Unfortunately AVS firmware lacks features that SOF provides (like eqiir, eqfir, drc, etc) which is enabled in topologies.

you can try to copy the attached sof-hda-passthrough.tplg (sof-hda-passthrough.tplg.zip to /lib/firmware/intel/avs-tplg/ and use a module parameter to force to load this:

options snd_sof tplg_filename=sof-hda-passthrough.tplg

This will provide bare-bone just pass the data through DSP path, which is not much better than using the legacy HDA stack.

Note: The intel/avs/kbl/dsp_basefw.bin should be a copyt of intel/avs/skl/dsp_basefw.bin

Instead of SOF, I would suggest to use the AVS stack by options snd_intel_dspcfg dsp_driver=4 and see if that works.

Having said that, I don't think SOF or AVS would make difference in the device as the issue is on the codec configuration side which is outside of the SOF/AVS stacks.

But based on the logs the device does not even needs DSP to be used, legacy HDA should cover all of it's features - when the correct QUIRK for the codec/speaker is in place.

[twi42]

Interestingly, Windows 11 Realtek SST drivers (Lenovo-provided and latest Microsoft CAB ones) also misconfigure the output setup, resulting thin and scratchy sound on the speakers - but a normally working 3.5mm jack. The driver does not recognize 3.5mm insertion either. Seems like the ALC3278 is bit of marginalized.

I will experiment more with quirk options, as Fedora is the platform I'd like this to be operational on.